Set up by The Wigtown Festival Company, you are free to shelf and sell books, chat to customers and pretend to be a bona fide book connoisseur. There are volunteers to help you get orientated when you first get there, but you will mostly be left to your own devices.

"The Open Book's aim is to celebrate books, independent bookshops and welcome people around the world to Scotland's National Book Town," says the listing.

"Wigtown has it all. Lovely folks who are so helpful, a grocery across the street with late hours, and friendly pubs and cafes for a bite… all within a short walk," writes Susan Ryhanen from New York on the blog.

Another visitor wrote how she waited two years to visit The Open Book. "When I first heard about it I signed up immediately for the first open space. It was a long wait, but for me it is like living a fantasy: coming to a completely different environment than I’m used to and being an independent shop keeper (with books no less). What could be better?"

It costs R672 a night for the whole flat that can sleep two people, and there's a minimum stay of six days, but there's a long waiting list. The next available booking is in October 2020, three years from now.

Wigtown has been Scotland's official book town since 1998 and has about 14 book shops for a town with the population of about a thousand people. They also host an annual Wigtown Book Festival each autumn with more than 200 events and activities for the whole family.